What is a YidLife Crisis

The YidLife Mission

YidLife Crisis (n)

/yĭd’līf krī’sĭs/

the identity crisis one has reconciling their old world inheritance with their new world lifestyle.

The Three Pillars of YidLife Crisis

Yiddish language and culture

Liberal Judaism

Cross-cultural bridge building

About YidLife

YidLife Crisis is a Yiddish comedy web series and evolving Jewish cultural brand created by two friends, Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman, wanting to pay homage to the yiddishkayt in their upbringing and the questioning Jewish comedic lens on life with which they were raised.

With the initial support of the JCF Montreal and the BYFI Alumni Venture Fund, they created “YidLife Crisis,” a love letter about modern Jewish identity, set in Yiddish (with English and French subtitles), that makes Jewish identity inclusive to all through the ice-breaking power of comedy.

What started as a passion project turned into a hit with over 1,500,000 video views, global press, appearances in North America, Europe and Israel, the collaboration of talent such as Mayim Bialik and Howie Mandel, and a chance to work with and bring together various organizations from Yiddish organizations through Jewish community centers through comedy festivals.

With time and a growing global following, YidLife Crisis has moved from simply a fictional web series to incorporate all sorts of digital content, from their Global Shtetl docu-video series all about Jewish life in all the corners of the world through their writings and blog posts and social media-ready graphics.

Behind the comedy of YidLife Crisis lies a robust strategy: in a world of unaffiliated “Pew Jews,” YidLife is meant to impact through the scale of the internet to engage a digital generation in the discussion of Jewish identity through storytelling and content with style and authenticity, not advertising or persuasion, with an open-mind and a collaborative spirit.

YidLife Crisis not only crosses borders figuratively, but literally – it is in both the US and Canada with offices in Los Angeles and Montreal.

YidLife Crisis acknowledges the support of Yiddishkayt, who serve as its fiscal sponsor and power its website, the Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal, and many, many others.

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About YidLife

Drinking in the very best that Montreal's multicultural Mile End has to offer, Chaimie and Leizer, best friends and debating adversaries, tackle life, love, and lactose intolerance in this foodie centric web series done entirely in their grandparents' Yiddish.